Prior to surgery, the anesthetist normally inserts a breathing tube in the trachea through the mouth of the anesthetized patient. In many cases, in order to most safely and expeditiously intubate the unconscious patient, the head should be in an intubating position, sometimes referred to as the "sniffing position". That is, the head is slightly elevated and the neck is extended. For surgery which can be done on the body in the supine position, the patient's head can remain in the intubating position after intubation if the surgery is to be performed on a part of the body distant from the head, such as a leg or the chest. However, if the surgery is to be done on or near the head, the patient's head will be placed in an operating position most convenient for conducting the surgery and which can be different from the intubating position.
Traditionally, various types of support devices, such as soft, gel-filled rings or padded structures, hereinafter collectively referred to as "head rings", and pillows are used to position the head of surgery patients. Intubation is usually completed quickly relative to the overall length of the operation. Therefore, traditional devices, especially pillows, are designed primarily to position the head for surgery and not necessarily with intubating in mind. Conventional head rings are typically so large that they interfere with intubation. If the head is moved off the ring, the anesthetist may need to dedicate one hand to support the patient's head while intubating. This is awkward for the anesthetist. Furthermore, once the patient is intubated, movement of the patient's head to place it on a head ring increases the risk of inadvertent extubation.
Generally, traditional head rings are adapted to fit heads of selected size ranges. That is, one size fits few. Hence it is necessary for a well-supplied operating room to store several different size head rings. Pediatric facilities may require many sizes and/or different types of head rings because head sizes vary considerably with age between infancy and adolescence. In addition to adding clutter in the operating room, the proliferation of head rings presents the problem of selecting the correct size for each patient. Frequently, this is done by trial and error which prolongs the overall procedure. Even the smallest commercially available head rings are too big to fit some neo-natal infants and very small children.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a surgery patient headrest which overcomes the disadvantages of articles known for this purpose. More particularly, it is an object to provide a headrest which is adapted to position the head for both intubating and surgery. The headrest can be used to support the head firmly in the intubating position so that the anesthetist can use two hands to intubate. It can also be used directly thereafter, without lifting the head from the headrest, to position the head for the operation, thereby reducing the risk of unintentional extubation. An advantage of the present invention is that the headrest permits the anesthetist or surgeon, hereinafter collectively referred to as "the surgeon," to rapidly and easily change the patient's head position to gain optimum access to the site of the surgical procedure.
Another object of the invention is to provide a single size headrest which fits many head sizes and shapes, and more specifically, to provide a single size headrest which can accommodate the extremely wide range of head sizes encountered in pediatric surgery.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a headrest which contacts the patient's head at very few points such that the head is, to a great extent, free from confinement. It is a feature of the present invention that the surgeon has greatly unrestricted access to the top and posterior portions of the patient's head. This feature is especially useful in surgery which involves the head and face. Conventional pillows and head rings do not afford as much access.
Accordingly, there is provided a surgical patient headrest comprising a first elongated lobe having a first longitudinal axis and a second elongated lobe having a second longitudinal axis,
each of said first elongated lobe and said second elongated lobe respectively tapering along said first longitudinal axis and said second longitudinal axis, from a broad end, having a large cross section area to a narrow end, having a small cross section area being smaller than said large cross section area;
said first elongated lobe being spatially fixed relative to said second elongated lobe in a V-shape orientation wherein said first longitudinal axis and said second longitudinal axis intersect at an acute angle, being an apex of said V-shape orientation; and wherein said narrow ends are proximal to said apex.